Watching The Dark: The History of Richard Thompson

LIKE MUCH OF his later writing, Greil Marcus' introductory notes to the new Richard Thompson box set, Watching the Dark, are a hodge-podge of strained analogies and brilliant insights. On the brilliant side of the ledger is this comment: "Trace Thompson's songs and performances over time and there is little or no sense of development, maturity, refinement. As with Van Morrison or Neil Young, perhaps Thompson's only true pop likenesses, a listener can believe it was all there from day one."